


Chance Meeting

by musesmistress



Series: Happenstance Series [1]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-13
Updated: 2013-02-13
Packaged: 2017-11-29 04:44:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/682926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musesmistress/pseuds/musesmistress
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A chance meeting in the past, could change the face of the future.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Elizabeth couldn’t believe it, it was impossible; here she was at the height of a social party with her mother only paces from her attempting to talk a few men into approach her, her friends around her making idle conversation and in front of her eyes… was something unbelievable.

Her eyes wondered over him, his military issue boots, dark green pants with many pockets covering what she imagined would be strong muscled legs and thighs. His waist met a black military issue t-shirt and she could see the form of his torso and rippling pecks.

Above all this glorious body was jet black scruffy hair and brilliant green eyes.

Breathtaking.

Behind her a few girls she had been talking with began to giggle, and she turned to look at them seeing them pointing at the man and making snide comments about his appearance. He did stand out, a military man in the midst of a well dressed social event.

She felt flushed, he was more than just taking her breath away as she turned back to watch him approach the drinks table and talk up a flute of champagne. He was seriously turning her on, she wanted to run her fingers over his chest, feel him shudder at her touch, feel the strength of his arms wrapped around her, feel him deep inside her.

She suppressed as shudder and turned back to her friends who, in the time she had watched him down his drink and return the flute, had noticed her scrutinising him.

Elizabeth moved away from the other girls and wandered over to her mother who was standing in amongst three men; she excused her mother and pulled her to one side.

“Please remind me why I’m here again,” Elizabeth asked, she had no desire to be here to begin with, and now that her friends had seen her fixate on one man, she had a feeling it was only a matter of time before her dear mother would hear of it.

“You need to find a man, Elizabeth.”

“I have a man, mom, Simon,” she said exasperated at her mother’s constant demand to find a particular someone.

“He’s not right for you, dear,” she said smiling even though she knew Elizabeth would roll her eyes, “and don’t roll your eyes at me, you know I only want the best for you. Now stay here, I’m going to go and find Colin, he should be here by now.”

Elizabeth watched as her remaining parent moved away before she turned and spotted the scruffy man again, he was strolling along the food table in her direction and she suddenly realised she was the end of the table where he would end up. She wanted to move, but couldn’t bring herself to do so, he was drawing nearer and her breath hitched as he picked up a piece of cheese and turned to smile at her.

“Hi,” he said with a slightly sly smile. He looked around quickly and Elizabeth did the same.

She took in the men who were watching her; as expected and caught sight of the three other women in the midst of the party, her friends who had seen her eyeing this man moments before. They were looking at him in a way that only too clearly that he was worth nothing.

Looking back at him Elizabeth forced a smiled onto her face that she hoped look natural, and replied with a simple; “Hi.”

“So, erm, good party,” he tried, his downcast face showing that he’d seen the disapproval of the girls. “Food could be better,” he said honestly and Elizabeth chuckled at him.

“I know, the caterer isn’t very good. I have no idea why my mother uses them,” she replied and looked to her right to catch a glare from her mum.

“Your mother?” he questioned with a quirked eyebrow. “This social accosting is for you?” he smiled smugly at the notion.

“I’m afraid so,” she said looking down and pulling herself in close as if she wanted to hide under the table. “How exactly did you find yourself here?” she said turning the table on him, so to speak.

“I got dragged along last minute by a mate,” he said looking around for his friend, “Colin Dunlap, you probably know him, he hates these thing.”

“Yeah, I know him, my mom has a habit of trying to get us talking, she hasn’t quite got the idea that he’s at the wrong party.”

“Wrong party,” he chuckled, “that’s the understatement of the century. Although, he’s probably having more fun talking to the guys than you are.”

“Elizabeth,” her mother called from beside a young and very uncomfortable looking man. She waved her daughter over and turned back to talk to the person at her side.

“Excuse me,” Elizabeth said to him. “I guess I need to go put on my usual show with Colin for a while.”

“It was nice to meet you,” he said reaching his hand out to shake hers, “Elizabeth,” he added as she took hold of his hand.

His strong grip was going to playing on her mind for a while; she could just feel it, as she moved away from the stranger and over to the familiarity of her mother and the man responsible for bringing him and her current discomfort.

“Elizabeth,” her mother started with a smile she knew only too well, “you remember Colin,” her smile brightened and as Elizabeth returned an equally as bright smile to the man, her mother pinched her arm and moved away.

“I see you meet my latest drag along,” Colin started, leaning in close to her. “I thought he might turn a few heads with his lack of ‘style’,” he added and offered his arm to Elizabeth.

“He’s done that alright,” she took his offered arm and moved through the crowd, not noticing as her mother approached the military clad man. “Where did you find him, and are there more like him there?” 

Colin let out a short laugh, before turning to lead Elizabeth to a bench swing they could sit on.

“I’ve unfortunately known that one since I was a kid,” Colin offered nodding in his friend’s direction. “His name is John Sheppard, and he joined the air force to annoy his dad, something he likes to do on a regular basis.”

“I think he’s being warned to stay away from me,” Elizabeth said watching the exchange between John and her mother, mostly her mother though.

“That just makes him all the more irresistible to you, doesn’t it?”

Elizabeth turned abruptly to Colin with a look of shock on her face, she opened her mouth to respond to his implication, but words failed to find their way past her teeth.

“I saw you Elizabeth,” he continued, “before he had even approached you, you were blushing, you were in fact looking for a scape-goat,” Colin leaned in close to whisper to her as her eyes drifted back to the scruffy man she could now put a name to. “He likes the unobtainable too.”

As the party came to a close several hours later, Elizabeth found herself sitting glumly in the bench swing watching as her mother bid farewell to the men and few friends Elizabeth had invited. She was beginning to wonder if she would ever see an end to parties like these. She always seemed to find the same men at them, and the same faces being pushed her way.

Colin had stayed with her, as he often did, for a majority of the day and told her many things about his friend, but eventually her mum had butted in and separated them insisting that time was needed to be spent with other party goers.

As a result, she found that whenever she could pry herself from one man, her somewhat pushy parent was there instantly with another, giving Elizabeth no time at all to reach Captain John Sheppard.

She wanted to see him again, get to know him beyond what Colin had told her, but it was virtually impossible and as she watched Colin drag the man from the food table as the caterers began to clean up, she watched her last attempt slipping towards the gate.

As Colin and John reached the gate however, they parted. John stepping through the gate and out of sight and Colin looking hopefully around the remaining people for a moment until he set his eyes on her. She climbed to her feet as he approached and watched his face brighten.

“I had considered giving this to your mom to pass on,” he said stopping a few feet from her, “but I didn’t want to risk that she would read it before handing it over.”

Elizabeth let out an involuntary snort; it was precisely what her dear mother would do. She reached out and took the slip of paper from her friends hand and delicately unfolded it.

Friday 19:00  
Monte's Trattoria, Greenwich Village

It was accompanied by cell number that she didn’t recognise.

“The cell number is John’s,” Colin explained. “In case you can’t make it,” he added with a devious smile and turned to walk away.

“Colin,” she said her eyes still fixed on the note, “thank you.”


	2. Chapter 2

Elizabeth tugged an unruly curl back behind her ear as she approached the door to her apartment, she had begun fixing her hair for her ‘date’ twenty minutes ago, but had changed the style over and over in that small space of time. Reaching the door she dropped her brush onto the side and pulled it open.

“Mom,” her eyes were wide, this was one of the many things she didn’t need right now, her mother being at the top of that list. “What are you doing here?” she asked. The shock of the sudden arrival evident in her tone as well as on her face.

“What? I can’t pay my favourite daughter a visit now and again?” she replied pushing past Elizabeth and stepping into the apartment.

“I’m your only daughter,” Elizabeth said suddenly considering that that single piece of information was not the thing she should be focusing on. “I was just getting ready to go out,” she said in hope that the biggest problem of the moment would leave.

“Where to and with whom?”

“A restaurant in Greenwich Village and Colin Dunlop,” Elizabeth had spoken to Colin that morning when he had called to tell her that her mother had called to attempt to talk him into calling her daughter. He had explained that he had told her mother that she was meeting him later that day for dinner.

“Oh, well I guess that party did the trick this time,” her mom explained and raised an eyebrow at her daughter.

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes on the woman wondering just what she was planning and why she felt it necessary to interfere if she through her daughter was dating the man she had set her up with.

“I need to get ready,” Elizabeth tried again still eyeing her only parent suspiciously.

“I just thought we could talk for a little while,” Margret stated picking up a small ornament that sat on Elizabeth’s computer desk. “We rarely get to just sit down and talk anymore.”

“Only every party,” Elizabeth said quietly but knew it was a mistake as her mother turned to glare at her.

“Very well,” Margret said and turned towards the door, “I’ll leave you to get ready for your… dinner,” she said as she reached for the handle.

“Wait,” Elizabeth closed her eyes silently cursing herself at giving into her mother’s attempt at a guilt trip, “I guess I could spare some time before I have to go.”

~~**~~

Simon Wallis picked up the phone a second time, began dialling the number to his girlfriend and then abruptly slammed the receiver down.

He was being foolish. Margret Weir wasn’t known to tip him off that Elizabeth was seeing someone else, well actually she was, she had done it once before in an attempt, as Elizabeth explained, to split them up.

But something still weighed heavily on his mind, Elizabeth was acting strangely, she had made excuses not to see him for the last few nights and he wondered if she had been truthful with him about being forced to dinner with someone else tonight.

He picked up the phone one more time and dialled again, he let it ring twice before he slammed it down again. This was ridiculous, Elizabeth would have just broken it off with him if she had found someone else, she was that kind of woman; she wouldn’t cheat on him without being forward about it. So why was he sitting here considering that Margret was being truthful.

He picked up the phone, dialled and waited.

 _“Hello,”_ Elizabeth’s voice came over the phone slightly exasperated.

“Elizabeth,” he started and paused wondering just how to phrase what he was thinking.

 _“Simon, I’m kinda busy right now,”_ she replied, _“can I call you back after this stupid dinner?”_ she explained and he felt himself nod before he pushed all his courage to the surface and asked.

“This is just to please your mother right?”

_“Yes, Simon, we’ve been over this.”_

“It’s just that, she stopped by earlier, told me you were having dinner with someone else and she only just found out about it.”

_“That was the plan Simon; tell her last minute to keep her out of the way.”_

“And this guy, what was his name again?”

 _“Colin. Simon, I really have to go, I only have twenty minutes to get ready and get to the restaurant,”_ he could hear the annoyance in her voice and it caused his curiosity to spike, if she wasn’t interested in this guy or having dinner with him, why was she so concerned about being late?

He said his farewell, hung up the phone and moved away from it. He paused for a moment before moving to the cupboard and pulling out his shoes and coat and pulling them on hurriedly. He grabbed his car keys from the table by the door before he stepped out into the warmth of the day.

~~**~~

Ten minutes, she only had ten minutes to get across town, find somewhere to park and meet John at the restaurant. She knew she was going to be late; maybe she could call him from the car.

As the thought occurred to her, she paused halfway across the lobby of her apartment building and began hunting through her purse. Giving up after her searched she puffed out an exasperated sigh and moved towards the door.

“How could I leave his number behind?” she questioned to herself as she stepped out into the cool night air and stopped. “Simon,” she said shocked as she saw him standing, leaning against his car in front of her.

“You look,” he paused searching for the right word. In fact he couldn’t think of one, she had never dressed this way for him, never taken the effort to do her hair and makeup this nicely. She looked hot and he couldn’t deny it, “nice,” he said with a smile.

“What are you doing here?”

“Thought I’d come see what my competition is,” Simon said with a smile he didn’t feel like producing.

“You have no competition, we’ve been through this,” she said and moved away from him and towards her own car. “I really don’t have time to talk about this now.”

“You’ve never worn that dress for me.”

Elizabeth stopped; she couldn’t believe this was happening, not now, not after half an hour of her mum and an additional five minutes of getting her out the door, then his phone call.

She opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off by her cell phone ringing. She looked up at him as she dug the phone from her bag and flipped it open.

“Elizabeth Weir,” she said and listened. Her eyes closed as her bad evening turned worse. “I’ll be right there,” she was in a nightmare.

“Date change his eating choice?”

Elizabeth sucked in a deep breath in order to stop from screaming at him and turned her back to him and continued to her car. There was no possible way this day could get worse.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she called over her shoulder as she pulled the door of her car open and climbed inside. 

She wanted to cry, the whole way there, she wanted to just cry, scream and kick until all the pent up frustration was let out. Her mother, her boyfriend and now this, she had been called in to work, some sudden negotiation that was ‘required’. There was no way out of it; she knew that instantly, they had been expecting it for days.

Elizabeth cursed herself again for forgetting the piece of paper with John’s number on it and turned into the parking lot of the embassy.

Her chance with John was gone, she had stood him up, and she was sure that calling him later to explain would get her nowhere. Chances are, he would hang up when she told him who she was.

She pulled into the empty spot and turned off the engine. This was the worst night of her life.


	3. Chapter 3

John pulled the door open and glared at his friend; he had been expecting him to show up at his door for over half an hour. Ever since the man called him to ask, or rather demand, to know why he had hung up on a beautiful woman when she had only tried to explain her reasons for standing him up the night before.

“What?” he practically growled. He wasn’t in the mood for this, he’d had a lousy night last night and wasn’t too please with the outcome of the morning. He had sat eagerly outside the restaurant for over half an hour before a group of passing girls had giggled at him causing him to realise Elizabeth wasn’t going to show. 

This morning was turning out just as bad, he had no hot water so couldn’t shower. His electricity had been cut off so he couldn’t watch TV or listen to the radio and then to top it off, Elizabeth had called.

 _“John, it’s Elizabeth, I’m sor…”_ that was all he heard before he hung up on her. But she had called back and started by asking him just to listen to her, but he had hung up again.

Shortly after that, John had received another call from Colin Dunlop, where John had spent most of his time listening to him rattle on about never finding someone like this woman, or just how long do you think you can go without settling down.

Scary thing about knowing someone most of your life, was that the other person knew you too well, and Colin had no shortage of information on John Sheppard. Everything from his battle scars, the fact that he was adopted, that he’d run away from adopted parents several times and that his ambition in life was to hold his own baby girl in his arms.

John was less than pleased at Elizabeth’s method when Colin had called him, and all he could think to say was ‘she stood me up’ over and over until he finally hung up on the man.

“Elizabeth didn’t intentionally stand you up,” Colin said forcing his way past John and into the apartment. “Things got in the way, her mother mostly, but she also had a call last minute to step into a negotiation; she walked into it dressed for dinner.”

“I don’t care for her excuses; she’s had all night to think them up.”

“They’re not excuses,” Colin said dropping down onto the only chair that wasn’t piled high with unwashed things. Colin didn’t want to guess how long they’d been there. “Her mom found out about the dinner date, seems she also knew it was with you.”

“What’s that got to do with anything,” John spat before disappearing into the kitchen.

“I got a called from Margret Weir last night,” Colin said in a raised voice making sure John wouldn’t miss his words, “asking about Elizabeth’s date. I told her I was meeting her daughter, I told her when and a rough location,” he said shaking his hand to indicate ‘ish’, “she didn’t seem to believe me.”

“Wow, most interesting story I’ve heard all day.”

“I know for a fact that Margret went on to call Simon Wallis, I’ll explain him in a bit,” Colin said accepting the glass of juice John was handing him. “Anyway, she called Simon, before heading over to Elizabeth’s, this was about half six yesterday, she was obviously out to make Elizabeth either late, or miss it all together.”

John pushed his dirty laundry off one of the chairs and flopped into it, he didn’t look at Colin as he plopped his feet onto the coffee table and pretended he wasn’t listening. For the life of him, he couldn’t think why this woman had gone to such lengths to lie to him, why such an elaborate story?

“So Elizabeth finally got rid of her mom and Simon calls her. In her haste to get ready and out the door, she forgets to pick up the paper with your number on it.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because you wouldn’t listen to Elizabeth,” Colin said before reaching down to place his glass on the floor beside him. “Outside, she meets up with Simon, who obviously went to check she was on a date with me, and just as she’s escaping him, she gets a call from work.”

“I don’t care.”

“You’re a bad liar, Sheppard.”

“She can make up all the stories she wants, it won’t change the fact that she stood me up!”

“Two things you have to know about the Weir’s,” Colin said sitting forward and making sure John was listening. “One; Elizabeth doesn’t lie, or stand people up, and two; if her mother doesn’t like you, then she’ll do anything to break it off.”

“Who’s Simon?”

“Elizabeth’s current boyfriend,” Colin said with a small amount of apprehension.

“Oh, well that makes everything peachy,” John spat sarcastically climbing to his feet and disappearing into the bathroom; slamming the door behind him.

“She doesn’t love him,” Colin called, “he’s a standby, an attempt to keep her mother off her back,” Colin said following him to the bathroom door. “She’d ditch him in a heartbeat,” he told his friend then added quietly, “especially for someone more exciting.”

“So she’s got a boyfriend, wants a boyfriend and does these parties to find one of her stature?” John said after yanking the door open and glaring angrily at Colin.

“No, she hates the parties. Her mom forces her to them because she wants Elizabeth to have some wealthy snot with no sense of humour to look after her,” Colin paused for a moment considering the fact that he had always received invites to the parties; he shook his head before he could think of a quirk to his own comment and continued. “Elizabeth’s an independent entity, and trust me, I use those words with great vigour. Most of the time when she was growing up, she was like you, acted out, pushed people away, did the opposite of what her parents told her to do, because she didn’t want to be stuck with a boring husband in a dead end relationship.”

“I still don’t see why I should listen to this.”

“You want to, you’re curious about her, and I know you haven’t stopped thinking about her since that party.”

“Last time I checked, you weren’t in my head!”

“Check again,” Colin said shortly before digging into his pocket. “Margret Weir is in the mindset that women should have strong relationships with rich men who can provide everything for them, love is never an issue to be considered to her. But Elizabeth believes the opposite, she believes in love to make the relationship stronger and providing for herself, she’d be happy living on the street in the rain and cold if she had a lover to keep her company.’

“And this has… what do to do with me?”

John watched his friend raise an eyebrow at him, he knew that look only too well. It was a look that told John he was being stupid, that he was pushing away something good; it was a look he’d given the John when he was twelve and was telling him his plans to run away and never come back.

“Firstly,” Colin started. The look still firmly on his face, “the word smitten comes to mind for both of you, she was practically gawping at you when you set foot into that party, her friends were probably belittling you, but she was blushing from watching to drink champers.”

John moved away from the bathroom and back into the kitchen to pull open the fridge.

“Secondly, I watched you when you were talking to her, and I could spot the point when you realised it was her party, the dejected look on your face was classic.”

“You want a sandwich?” John asked pulled out the needed items and moved to the centre unit.

“No, thanks,” Colin said following his friend. “Thirdly,” he said firmly before pulling the item from his pocket at slapping it down on the side, “this,” he said and watched John closely.

John looked at the item Colin hand placed on the side. It was a picture of Elizabeth, a beautiful low cut, pale blue dress revealing a lot of her chest and hiding just enough to spark John’s imagination and her hands in front of her as if she was fiddling idly with her own fingers.

But it was the look on her face that caught his attention, she looked longingly, at something out of sight, a look of pure desire and passion on her face he’d never seen before.

“I took that after we walked in, she was watching you,” Colin told him quietly, knowing only too well that John was studying the pretty face and beautiful green eyes of the woman in the picture. “This one, I took,” he said placing another picture on top of the first, “just before you reached her at the end of the food table.”

John studied the new picture; Elizabeth was flushed, afraid of something that she was watching. Her hands pulling at her dress as she, obviously without noticing, attempted to make herself more comfortable and more appealing to the eye. His eye.

“And this…” John listened intently now as Colin placed a final pictured down. “I took when you realised who she was.”

Colin had always had a thing with cameras, ever since they had met. Colin had taken pictures at random, passing people on the street, animals as they trotted along towards their homes, anything just so long as it wasn’t waiting to have their photo taken. As kids they had taken great pleasure in looking through the photos, stunned faces, twisted expressions and the open mouth of the crazy man Colin had delighted in snapping as they passed him in the street.

This time however, Colin had captured more than random expressions, the sad and dejected look on John’s face as Elizabeth smiled lovingly at him was causing his heart to become a great pain in his chest. He hadn’t realised just how intoxicating he had found her. He remembered the night after the party, remembered tossing and turning in bed worrying about what he would say to a beautiful woman at dinner.

He remembered looking at the clock at two in the morning and suddenly thinking he was crazy, why had he suggested dinner. He never did dinner on the first date, if it was even a date at all; he hadn’t exactly been able to ask her.

John let out an exasperated sigh, if she wasn’t lying about the events of last night, he had messed it up himself. He’d hung up the phone on her even when he wanted nothing more than to listen to her voice. He had refused to be convinced that she was sorry, that she had asked Colin to talk to him. He’d even hung up the phone on his friend in an attempt to get away from the hurt feeling that she had left him with.

“I’ve messed up again,” John said quietly dropping the butter knife he’d been clutching the whole time.

“Yes you have,” Colin told him. “But luckily for you, I’ve already fixed it for you.”

John raised an eyebrow at Colin before looking down at the piece of paper that had been left on top of the photos. Colin had left the apartment before the message sunk in.

Friday 19:00  
Monte's Trattoria, Greenwich Village


	4. Chapter 4

She checked her watch for the fifth time and realised that only a matter of minutes had gone by. It was five to seven and there was still no sign of John Sheppard, but there was still time.

Elizabeth shifted in her seat outside the restaurant and began considering the possibility that John would stand her up as she had done the week before. She closed her eyes against the fear of that event. Colin had sounded hopeful, told her that he had left John in a state of shocked realisation that he would be missing out on something extra special if he didn’t show up.

She looked around again, still nothing. She huffed out a sad sigh and watched a couple across the street as the guy took his girlfriends hand and kissed it tenderly before walking away from her.

“Hi.”

Elizabeth’s head snapped up at the deep voice that greeted her and fought back the look of relief that crossed her features.

“Hope you haven’t been waiting too long,” John said taking the seat opposite her with a broad smile.

“No,” Elizabeth replied unable to hide the bright smile that crept across her lips. “Only a few minutes,” she told him, her heart pounding in her chest as she looked into his eyes, his wonderful, glorious eyes.

“I brought you this,” John said quickly, breaking the small silence that had begun building between them and holding out a single lily.

“Thank you,” Elizabeth said breathlessly as she reached out for the delicate flower, her fingers brushing his as she took it and a wave of guilt passing over her. She had managed to stand him up last week and he was bringing her flowers, well only one flower, but still. “About last week,” she started, but John stood up.

“Don’t, you shouldn’t have to apologies for work and… well, impossible parents. I should be apologising for not listening when you tried to explain.”

Elizabeth looked away somewhat embarrassed about having sent a friend to do her dirty work, but she didn’t know where he lived and probably would have found it impossible to get up the courage to actually talk face to face with him.

“Shall we go eat?” John asked holding out his hand to her in an offer to help her up. Elizabeth smiled and reached out for his hand and let John guide her into the restaurant.

Dinner passed quietly to begin with, John ordered wine and they sat in silence as they picked their meal. As John tried several times to spark a conversation, Elizabeth looked around the lush interior, taking in the flowers that sat in beautiful vases around the room.

“I don’t like silence,” he said after yet another failed attempt at a conversation.

“What do you like?” Elizabeth asked, picking up her wine glass and taking a sip of the red liquid.

“Anything that moves fast, planes and rockets; those sorts of things. College football, beautiful woman,” he added a smile to this item and tipped his glass in Elizabeth’s direction, “Ferris wheels.”

“Ferris wheels don’t move very fast,” Elizabeth said with a grin, her eyes fixed on his as she watched him raise an eyebrow at her statement.

“I know,” he said, “but it’s relaxing, gives plenty of time to get to know who you’re with.”

“Are they twice as good when you’re with a beautiful woman?”

“Yeah,” John said with a tilt of his head, he watched Elizabeth raise both brows at him and suppress a chuckle. “In fact,” he continued with a sly grin of his own, “it’s three times as good with a beautiful woman who likes fast things.”

She couldn’t help the laugh that escaped and she had to put down her fork to cover her mouth as she had just placed the last of her dinner there and began to chew.

“Well,” she said eventually, “I don’t mind fast things, but I prefer the calm of a Ferris wheel much better.”

“Well now I know what to do with our second date,” John said and instantly found himself wondering if there would actually be a second date. So far, they’d awkwardly formed small pointless conversations, and he hadn’t finished the night yet.

“Hmm, well now I have something to look forward too,” Elizabeth told him quickly seeing the uneasy expression.

“Desert?” John asked with a grin.

“Oh, no, definitely not,” Elizabeth placed her hands on her stomach to indicate that she was full. “my stomach might explode,” she watched the grin spread across John’s face.

“Definitely not a good thing. Besides, I’m not done with this date yet, I need you mobile.”

“Mobile?” Elizabeth chuckled at him as he paid for their meal.

“Yep,” John said with a grin. “A short walk, and then part two of our date.”

“I’m intrigued,” Elizabeth raising her eyebrow at him again and finding the returned grin made her heart skip a beat. He was amazing.

“Well then,” John said climbing to his feet and pulling on his jacket before helping Elizabeth up and on with her own, “let’s go for a walk.”

Conversations between them sparked as they left the restaurant, and made the short walk to John’s next location. He refused to tell her where they were going and before turning the last corner, had her closer her eyes so he could guide her to the door.

“I know, it’s a lot to ask, trusting me not to walk you into… a wall,” he stopped to listen to her laugh and steadied her as she almost tripped at the door step. “Sorry, I should have mentioned the step.”

Elizabeth continued to laugh, finding it hard to stop as she clung to John’s hand, enjoying the contact and the snide comments he was adding as they stepped into the warmth of a room.

“OK,” John said stopping her in her tracks and the band in the corner began to play, “you can look now.”

He couldn’t help it, he watched her as her face lit up, her smile was breathtaking and her eyes were wide and bright as she took in the dance hall she had been led to. The live band and the couples, dancing close together in the middle of the room.

“Elizabeth,” John said holding his hand out, palm up, “may I have this dance?” he said and she chuckled at him before taking hold of his hand again.

Time slipped passed them, their first dance turning into numerous dances. They barely noticed as the couples around them thinned until eventually there were only a few others around them.

The band announced their last song and began a slow song, John moved comfortably in towards Elizabeth and they unconsciously settled into each other’s arms and before the song was half way though, Elizabeth gave into the urge to rest her head on John’s shoulder.

“I take it I’ll get a second date?” John asked in a whisper to the top of a beautiful head, his only reply was a soft moan. He reached up, moving one of his hands from her back to caress her neck, fiddling with the small curl that had escaped her bun.

As the song ended Elizabeth pulled away slightly now suddenly self conscious that she had gotten too close to a man she barely knew. But as she looked up at him, she couldn’t help but feel that everything that happened from the moment they had met, had felt right, and missing their date last week had felt like the worst thing in the world.

“I think it’s time to go,” she said, hating the sound of need in her voice as she spoke, she wanted very much to spend every second of her life with him and the look in his eye told her, that he didn’t want to leave either.

They stepped outside and the cold night air hit them. Elizabeth shivered and was thankful when John wrapped his jacket around her shoulders.

“Come on,” he said, “I’ll get you a cab,” John offered walking her to the end of the street and around the corner to the main street. They walked a little while, passing a few late night vendors who were closing down and stopped at an appropriate place to hail a cab.

“John,” Elizabeth started as a taxi cab pulled up in front of them. “I need to apologise for last week, you’ve made tonight so special for me, and I feel bad about leaving you sitting there.”

John opened the door of the car and waited with a smile on his face. When she finished, he leaned in and kissed her on the cheek before pulling a bunch of flowers from behind his back and offering them to her.

“You deserve every minute of tonight,” he said, reaching for the single white lily that she had tucked into the ribbon wrapped around her dress. “This beauty belongs with these,” he said adding it to the bouquet he had paid for earlier and picked up secretly as they passed the vendor. “And all of these,” he said, “belong to the beautiful woman who kept me company all night.”


End file.
